Vitality London 10,000

It's that time of the year again. Definitely my favourite race of the year so far and also somewhat of a bogey race in terms of trying to get a PB.

In previous years I've planned, not really trained fully, and failed (rightly so) to get a PB in London, or get near a sub 1 hour 10k which is something I have desperately craved.
Obviously I've not craved it quite enough as my training, if I start it, always seems to falter weeks before race day.

This year was slightly different as I started training late which meant I managed to get in a lot of training closer to race day before the usual pattern of getting caught up in life and putting training in the back of my mind.

A week before we set off on our holiday, I was in full training mode, hitting a 10k in training that led me to sign up for a 10k race in Blackpool the week after and I was so glad that I did. Getting under an hour, almost under 59 minutes (probably would have been 58 if not for traffic at the start) did wonders for my confidence leading up to London.

Training didn't really restart after the week away due to one reason or another (it was a tiring week, driving over 1000 miles and not really sleeping due to F and growth spurts!) but after a couple of hard but doable runs in the week leading up to London, I was still confident of under an hour.

Then the day arrived, no pre race nerves. This may be a turning point, or it could have been because I was too busy praying for rain because... heat, oh the heat and humidity.

Not just a Flash in the pan - Photo courtesy of Dana V-T

So I left my friends who I persuaded to join me, only to be put into different starting pens, and joined my wave.
The route was to be as good as always, a beautiful tour of London and some of it's finest attractions but on one of it's most humid of days. With heat unfortunately comes problems and I passed a few unlucky runners being tended to by our lovely NHS paramedics - I do hope the runners are okay and have made a full recovery.
Despite the heat, and being slowed down by a Police car crossing the track, I peeked at my watch to check my pace and I was hovering around 9:30/mile which was starting to feel hard in the energy sapping humidity.
Onwards I plodded, following an older gentlemen getting a lot of wonderful crowd support for him and the charity he was supporting (which now escapes me, an orange vest I think...Parkinsons?) along Birdcage Walk.

Counting down the metres (800m) but feeling my legs just not getting the energy (600m) they needed to pick up the pace. Looking out for our supporters, I dug deep (400m) to gradually find the next gear (200m) and as we hit the right turn onto Spur Road (100m), Buckingham Palace, in all it's glory, was completely ignored and instead I was focussed on some kind of an attempt at a sprint finish.
I heard someone shout my name from my right, spotted our supporters and gave them a wave as I hit the last few metres and crossed the finish.

Photo courtesy of Dana V-T

Over the line in 59:53 - under an hour! Just, yes, but it counts and considering the heat I am super happy.

Two 10ks, both under an hour, achievement for 2017 completed. Time to level up and aim for sub 59...

The 3 Amigos - Photo courtesy of Dana V-T

Keep Running, Running, Running...

I've been away, travelling round the UK, mainly for weddings but managed to squeeze in family as well as a Parkrun and a 10k in sunny Blackpool.


When I can wake up when I'm on holiday, I love me a little bit of Parkrun tourism and seeing as we were in the Lake District, the temptation of a picturesque 5k was more than enough to tempt me from a comfy bed and hit the trails.
Keswick Parkrun follows an old railway route and even starts from the old platform (James!), heads over a few bridges (a bit dodgy) as well as including a couple of hills. You meander, following the river and to be honest, it's a lovely 'there and back' Parkrun and one I wish I could do weekly.

Not knowing how trail the trail would be, I went with my actual trail running shoes and stuck to somewhere in the third quarter of the starting pack - also mindful that I had a 10k the next morning that I wanted to be fresh for.
Started off slow and found my rhythm whilst taking in the surroundings and making sure I didn't face plant onto the rough ground that threatened to trip you with big rocks strewn around.
After hitting 2.5k, I remembered reading that the second half of the route should be quick, so I picked up the pace a little. After I had tackled the last major incline, I realised what they meant - what seemed fairly flat at the beginning was actually now downhill - and so the pace was upped again, still a comfortable stride. With three people in front, a maintained pace and had a mental battle about whether to overtake or just settle "10k tomorrow, no need to push, just stick with it. Go hell for leather, sprint sprint sprint!". So yeah, I sprinted past the trio to the finish and managed to finish in 29:49.

The next day, we set off early to get to Blackpool in time for the 10k & made it in enough time to have a toilet break at my sister's, and then head up to the start with her and my niece without leaving excess time to stress myself!

Actually feeling pretty calm about heading into a race in the heat, we crossed the start at snail's pace for whatever reason and after half a minute we got up to a pace of around 9:30/mile. Not going for a PB, I stuck with my sister although truth be told, it felt like a faster pace than I would have set off at!
Sticking with her, weaving in and out of slower runners, we bombed down the prom from North Shore down towards the Pleasure Beach in what felt like an eternity before 5k appeared.
It was at this point I lost my sister in the crowd at the water station (I don't stop at stations unless it's crazy hot) as I continued the pace we set at the start.

What I had forgotten from last year was that just because you're at the seaside, doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be flat and at Blackpool, you don't realise there are any hills until the end where they then seem never ending.
Powering through each of the final hills, the finish was approaching and I had prepared myself to pick up the pace once I could see the finish, and then once again to sprint finish. Somehow, I found an extra gear on top of my usual sprint and made sure I overtook a couple of people at the line, including Fred Flinstone.
According to my Garmin, I finished in 58:31, but due to the autopause at the start, I was expecting the chip time to be slightly different. It was, but recorded 59:15 which my friends, is finally a sub 1 hour 10k for me!

Honourable mentions to my sister who, with a bad ankle after 5k still smashed it in 1:01:23 and my niece who ran her first ever 10k distance in 1:05:10. Amazing achievements!

Now I'm home, it's time to get back training for the final few weeks before London...sub 59...?

Here Comes The Fear

Part of the problem I have when running a race¹, is that I struggle to transfer what I've managed in training into the race.

According to my Garmin, my PB for a 10k training run is now 1:00:07 (previously 1:00:54), however from an actual race it is 1:03:24.

Maybe I don't fuel enough for a race, maybe it's the pre-race nerves that eat into that stored energy or maybe it's simply the people traffic you encounter. I don't know, I'm inclined to agree with the nerves as I suffer a lot. Not sure why, I know I can do the distance, maybe I put too much pressure on myself whereas on a training run, I'm not trying and it just happens?

An unsolved enigma that I feel like I might be closer to beating this year, unwittingly deriving from beginning full training with 6-7 weeks to go (less time to get injured/bored).

And so to the prep; training has still been going, which is good, and it's weird to think that in my threshold sessions that my easy pace seems to be comfortable at what I used to think was fast for me! I can cruise along at a pace a whole 45 secs/1 minute faster than a couple of years ago, madness. I've not been able to tell what pace I could sustain during 5k/10k as I've not really partaken in a straight distance run (apart from one 5k, which felt hard but sub 30) until Monday where I tackled my first 10k distance of the year in a training run.

It was scheduled as an easy run, nothing fancy, just 60 minutes running around at a comfortable pace and not exerting too much effort. Using the programmed activity on my watch, I knew it wouldn't alert me each kilometre, which was fine as it meant that I wouldn't be thinking about how far there was to go and left me to concentrate on how I was feeling during the run.
The route I used was my 10k route as it's the only one that would take me to at least an hour. So here we go, no stress!
Tackling some big ol' Stevo hills, I felt comfortable all the way round, even after a couple of beastly inclines. There were no sneak peaks at the watch to see how I was pacing, as I knew I'd spot how much time was left & then I'd try to speed up or slow down 'let's see how we pace ourselves, let's see what you can do'.
Surprisingly, coming towards the end, I still hadn't been alerted to a hour, what?! Had my watch paused itself again? No, no it hadn't - I added an extra bit to my route to use up the remaining time and once the clock ran down & buzzed to signal the end of the activity, I looked down and somehow I'd managed 10k in 1:00:07 (or bang on 1 hour if you ask Endomondo). Without a sprint finish, or knowingly pushing towards the end, I'd almost hit sub 1 hour for the first time by accident.

And so, because of that, I've signed up for a 10k at the weekend in Blackpool, the same one that I did last year. I'm not going for a PB, just going to try and chill round with my sister and see what happens. Maybe I can get close (by accident) and settle some of those nerves for London at the end of the month.


¹by race, I just mean an organised event with proper timing.

Training For Dayz

I've been getting back into the swing with running and training but I *think* that we may be there, FINALLY.

Since the last update there have been 6 training sessions which is around 3 a week and should be my average up until the late Bank Holiday in May for the London 10,000.

From the top:

My first run was a 1.7 mile tester, back from the car garage where Venkman was in having a service and MOT.
Average of 10:07/mile and didn't feel awful and was glad to do it all in one go. No issues, win.

A bit lax, but 10 days later I forced myself out for what would be the first of 3 runs on consecutive days. An easy 5k at 10:11/mile, couple of places where I decided to walk but nice to get a 5k into my legs and to remember that it's not as scary as I'd built up in my head after injury.
Total distance: 3.1 miles.

Next up, and the day after, I went for some more hill repeats - not a scary thing anymore! However, the hills weren't as challenging as they could have been so I'll have to rethink my route next time. Including the warmup and cool down jogs.
Total distance: 3.5 miles.

For the third day, threshold intervals were the order of the day; 15 minute warmup followed by running at threshold pace for 3 minutes, with 1:30 rest after each interval.
Total distance: 3.2 miles.

Then I missed my workouts later in the week due to going away for the bank holiday weekend, ran out of time - who knew there'd be so much to pack with a 5 month old?!
So I decided to make up for it on Monday with my long Sunday run, which according to my plan, was to be a 45 minute easy run.
My Garmin decided to pause itself for the first 3 minutes, but as it was a route that I've done before & know it's around 4.5 miles, I shrugged off the technical issue and got my head in the game.
Surprisingly it almost felt easy, an average pace of 9:55/mile isn't what I'd usually call an 'easy' pace. Maybe this is muscle memory kicking in?
Total distance: 4.5 miles.

Finally we're onto yesterday, more threshold intervals - 15 minute warmup followed by a 2x 6 minute intervals with 3 minutes rest after each. Legs felt a little tired after the long run but at the same time, it wasn't as hard as I'd expected. Pretty much hit the target of around 9:30/mile for the intervals and 10:30/mile for the recovery.
Total distance: 3.4 miles.

Couple of cross training/rest days until we kick back off on Friday with more intervals! Sub 1 hour 10k, I'm coming for you!

Sealife, Livelife

4 weeks goes far too quickly - I'd apologise for the massive gap between posts buuut, it'll probably happen again. Soz mate.

So I'd fill you in on everything that has happened, but to be honest, it's just been life. Busy with plodding along so what I can do is fill you in on the Easter bank holiday weekend.

We decided to go to Great Yarmouth to stay in a caravan, our first time away from home overnight so we were unsure how F would cope sleeping in a different environment.
Well, she didn't to be honest and you can't blame her. Poor soul is only just 5 months old and so everything is still new to her so it must have been scary to be in a different bed, with a different mattress with lots of different noises.

However, that was only one (tiring) part of the weekend; we arrived on Friday, unpacked and headed straight to Yarmouth seafront to go to the Sealife Centre!
Not only did we have a BOGOF voucher from Kellogg's, but figured that what better sensory experience that with all the fish and lights in water!

Upon stepping through the main doors, she was already alert as the sounds and was even more mesmerised as we ventured through the small, yet adequately sized Great Yarmouth branch of Sealife.

Chilling with Sting(ray) - photo by JB

We snaked our way through jellyfish, stingrays. Nemo & Dory, PENGUINS and each attraction brought with it various movements and sounds of excitement.

Tunnel Vision - photo by JB

Eventually we made it to the main attraction; the TUNNEL! And oh how she loved it, fish and sharks swimming above and around us and the biggest turtle I've ever seen!

After a quick nappy change, we headed back round on our 2nd loop (they stamp your hand so you can visit again same day, which is nice!), F slowly became less interested and gradually fell asleep. I guess you really can have too much excitement for one day!

Saturday we took her to the swimming pool for the first time and for a walk along the beach in Gorleston. A place I went as a kid and who used to do the best whippy ice cream, covered in chocolate!

A walk down the prom and F obviously enjoyed it as she was chattering away to herself the whole way, while I was catching Pokemon 😏

After deciding to cut our losses and head home Sunday afternoon, we had another swim, packed the car and hit the road.

I supposed this was a good insight into what to expect in May, when we're away for a whole week!

Hilly McHillyface

Unless you're a sadist and not a runner, I'd say that the very notion of a hill on your running route sends a shiver down your spine.

What may seem like a small mound to most people, is an incline steeper than a very steep thing and more formidable than Donald Trump's imaginary Mexican wall.
And when you're a runner in your stride and you start the laborious task of making your way to the top, the hill starts growing, the end that looked oh so near gets further and further away by the step!

How do we conquer this?! Say the voices in my head. There's only one thing for it...HILL REPEATS

I'd always avoided hills, or at least made sure they had a minimal incline, until last year when I started at Panshanger Parkrun. It's a trail course with a fair few varied hill types making it one of the reasons I'm sure I cut my 5k to under 30 minutes for the first time.

But that's not hill repeats! I hear myself cry. Bear with me, I'm purely highlighting how I've come to realise that hills make you/me/us a stronger runner!

Okay, so, hill repeats - sprint up a hill for x amount of time/distance, x amount of times with a recovery period at the end of each sprint.
For example, my set today was as follows:

• 10 minute warm up jog (very easy)
• 8x (80-90% effort) sprint up 5-6% incline for 40 metres
• 1 minute recovery after each sprint (walking back down the hill)
• Slow jog back to the start for cool down with a bit of stretching

Once a week should be fine, mix up the number of sprints you do, the distance and for the recovery, I'd up it to 2-3 minutes - I'm not sure 1 minute was enough today!

Personally, I'm going to up the distance to 60 metres next week with 2 minutes recovery, and try to be more consistent with the speed and effort on each rep.

Look at me sounding like an expert, lols. Give it a try and I'd be interested if you have any other tips? I use Kinetic Revolution for my resources and I think that you should also!

Nobody Said It Was Easy

Gosh, these posts are getting longer and longer apart, aren't they? I promise I'll try to be better at talking to myself.

So since my last post, there's been a steady progression back into the fitness lark. I've been going to Yoga every Wednesday, which for an anxious person, is a great achievement in itself but it also means getting up a 5:30am to get the gym. I'm not a morning person, but I've actually enjoyed getting up for Yoga. Well, enjoy is expanding on the truth, but I do actually enjoy it when I'm there!

Last week I also took part in a 30 minute 'express circuit' class and that was an experience. So much of an experience that I realised 2 things:

1. I'm really not fit enough for mid-high intensity activities
2. I no longer know how to use a skipping rope

And then the day after, DOMS. Oh the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)

It seemed as though my body had forgotten how to walk, how to function even, from the waist down. It was like Bambi on ice but with more pain. But in a weird way, it's that good kind of pain. The kind of pain that reminds you that although you think you did everything wrong, you obviously still worked out some muscles!

Parkrun has been revisited, albeit just the once so far, and today (Wednesday 15th) a 5k in the lovely sunshine around St Albans. It felt good to go out, and I'm slowly but surely feeling the joy of running again.
It was a shaky start today, legs felt heavy and I thought I was feeling a twinge in my knees but decided it was psychological. And it was, reassuring myself as I went round; 'it's your second run in 8 months. Walk a little if you need to, these are steep hills. Make up for it on the final stretch.'
Yes, I have a fragile mind as mentioned before but it's the beginning and we go again and again until we succeed. There will be hard days, there always are, and I am my own worst enemy but we'll get there...we ARE getting there.

My friend's post on Tumblr reminded me that we are all different; different levels of fitness, shapes and sizes and to just be comfortable in what YOU are doing. So do that, be more confident in yourself, even just a little bit.

In the immortal words of Zooey Deschanel:

"You gotta be kind to yourself. Badadadum, badadadum"